Friday, February 12, 2010

There's been some confusion lately over the governor's plan to cut civil service pay, with some mistakenly concluding this covers CSU employees. It does not.

From an email to a chapter from Phillip Coonley, CSUEU Chief of Staff:

There are currently no plans by the [CSU Chancellor's Office] to adopt the Governor's recommendation of cutting civil service employee salaries. Our contract is closed until 2011 and so any changes would have to be agreed to by CSUEU.

From our budget FAQ on our website:

Q3: How is the Governor proposing to deal with the deficit?

A3: The Governor hopes to receive $6.9 billion in new federal funds. He is also proposing $8.5 billion in spending cuts and $4.5 billion in fund shifts and other revenues. Rather than continue three-day-per-month furloughs for state civil service workers, he's proposing to cut state worker pay and benefits by $1.6 billion:

Reduce state civil service pay by 5 percent (this does not apply to CSU employees)

Increase state civil service retirement contributions by an additional 5 percent of salary (this does not apply to CSU employees)

Reducing state employers' contributions by an equal amount (this does not apply to CSU employees)

Requiring state departments, other than constitutional offices, to reduce personnel costs by 5 percent by July 1, 2010 (this does not directly apply to the CSU, but the Governor has asked the CSU to do the same)